The first inkling I got that I may not fully buy into Monkey Mofo was exactly that – its name. Who thought including the word ‘mofo’ into the title of a game – especially one that appears, at least aesthetically, to be aimed at children – would be a good idea? I guess that is a question only Lucky Red Fish can answer. Regardless of the response, while the basic game is straight-forward, its name is not the only issue Monkey Mofo suffers from.
• Developer: Lucky Red Fish
• Publisher: Lucky Red Fish
• Reviewed on: Android
• Also Available On: PC, Mac, iOS
• Release Date: Available Now
At its core, Monkey Mofo is a simple game. The goal is to guide the main primate protagonist across an isometric map, collecting fruit, avoiding dangers and obstacles until you can finally reach the level’s exit. Unlike other level-based, mobile games, completing a level requires you to collect all of the fruit in a level before passing through the finish line. This type of restriction can often lead to frustration as you end up having to master each area fully before you can proceed – which in a market dominated by casual games can lead to immediate dismissal from a device.
The controls are equally simple; in that, in order to guide your monkey around the environment, you have to draw directional arrows on the blocks that form the floor. This simple concept is confused however by what should be a simple zoom function. Instead of using the standard pinch-to-zoom controls, you need to press a Plus or Minus button on screen and then drag the screen if the desired area is not centred. I often found myself ending up accidentally drawing a direction rather than moving my perspective. To be clear, my phone has a 5-inch screen too, so I can’t imagine how badly this could get on the relatively puny iPhone/iPod screen.
As the monkey treks around the environment, he moves at a steady pace. When you introduce directions, he follows them but when he reaches a dead-end, he will continue his relentless march. This can lead to some frantic moments and invariably leads to a lot of pondering before making any moves – further confounded by the limited number of arrows you can draw.
The bright spot in this review will quite literally talk about the bright spot – namely the colourful world these primates live in. The game looks appealing and the environments are vividly luminous. The character design is almost reminiscent of Nintendo’s Miis – which is the basis for my target audience comment above.
Despite an opening tutorial that is actually pretty bad at explaining the mechanics, you will learn what is required pretty fast. Once you get your eye in and develop strategies for overcoming recurring patterns, the game is actually well-paced enough to begin introducing power-ups, like one that speeds up the monkey (though that could be considered a bad thing also), and obstacles to bypass. With 200 levels to take on, there is plenty of value in the game too.
Monkey Mofo may be worth your time – if you are willing to overlook some of its problems. It tests your reflexes and planning abilities while also providing plenty of puzzles to overcome. However, the controls are ham-fisted (even more so for the ham-fisted among us).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kISa326BNgo
